Summer Running With Nike+

Parents working all summer leave you with no wheels? Race entry fees the size of government bailouts? A lack of local races to showcase your road skills?

Thanks to Nike, you no longer have to suffer those summertime running blues. Now you can get in touch with fellow runners and challenge them to road wars. Just attach the Nike+ to your kicks and you're ready to compete against teammates, opponents and runners from around the world—without ever entering an official race.

Once you've completed your race distance, upload the information from your Nike+ to the website and see if you broke the tape first.

"On nikeplus.com, we have community features that allow people to challenge each other," says Chris Robenette, product director for Nike Techlab. "You can also set goals and create a training plan for yourself. There are all kinds of things you can do on the website to look at your runs."

To enable the Nike+ functionality, plug the little receiver into the bottom of your nano or iPod.